"I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere beyond the morning." - J.B. Priestly


Monday, February 21, 2011

Hurrying Toward Spring

On the heels of our second big blizzard, I find myself longing for spring.  It's not because of the cold or snow, though, it's because I want to get working on my gardens!  Not sure if it's the Master Gardener classes, or because I visited all of the beautiful gardens in England, or whether it's because I'm now retired and can enjoy working in the gardens.  No matter the reason, I find myself reading gardening articles in magazines, reviewing the current lay-out of my gardens with an eye toward improvement, and reviewing garden catalogs with the same interest that was once reserved for clothing and shoes.

I have only a very small raised plot for veggies -- maybe 4'x6' -- and find it to be perfectly adequate since I don't cook.  Just enough space for tomatoes and herbs.  Maybe I'll add to that this year, but not sure yet.  My real passion is flowers and flowering shrubs.  I have huge  flower beds in front and back, and a butterfly garden on the side of the house.  This Spring, I want to enlarge the butterfly garden to extend the entire width of the house, with a fence and arbor so I can have a climbing plant like wisteria or clematis.  My black-eyed susans and purple coneflowers need to be thinned, so those will be natural additions within the extension.  Then, I'll need to pick some additional plants for the space.

Thinking seriously about replacing the chain link fence on the north side of the yard, along with extensions on either side.  I'd love a white vinyl picket fence, but I'll need to get estimates to see if we need to mortgage the house just to pay for a fence!  If it's affordable, I'd like to add some fence sections in the front near the public sidewalk to highlight special flower beds.  I'm thinking that one will be for roses -- not sure about the other one yet; gotta check out ideas for a flower bed that will be mostly in the shade, I think.  Don't want to get too close to the driveway or it will be destroyed in the winter by the snowblower and salt.

So, I've been reading past issues of Birds and Blooms, and I found an old issue of Backyard Living (a former Reiman publication that I miss), plus some gardening catalogs to get ideas for my gardens and for container gardens.  I also want to do some planting on the hillside at the cottage since that area will be tough to mow, and will have lovely sunshine all day all summer.  The cottage is 4a growing zone and is sandy soil in full sunlight.  Home is 4b growing zone and is mostly clay.  I have sunny areas and areas that are in partial to mostly shady areas.  Requires a lot of planning and note-taking.  Add to that the fact that I've now added houseplants.

Based on the blizzard we had yesterday, I think I'm going to have plenty of time to get it all planned.

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